Exploring the City
© 2023 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by :icondragonmelde:, color by :iconmarmelmm:

“Message from Varan,” Meredith said, studying her padd as her fork poked at her salad.  She and Fuji had paused for lunch, and the golden palomino mare was deeply involved in contract negotiations with Imperial Chartering on behalf of Transcosm.  Kashlanin contract law was convoluted, mainly because no Mercantile Fellowship wanted to step on another Fellowship’s tail.
“Oh?” Fuji asked, placing his glass on the table.  He had been keeping an eye on Jinzi, who was spending more time walking than she was crawling.  “Not bad news, I hope.”
His wife shook her head.  “They’ve arrived at a base inside the Empire.  Mainly for demobilization, with a lot of ships going into reserve.  Her ship’s going to be refitted.”
He nodded, and jerked his chin toward her padd.  “Are you going to send the game to her and Vesan?”
“Yeah, after I poke around the city a little further.  It’s a pretty weird place, and . . . “
“Yes?”
“Between Jinzi, work, and this contract,” Meredith said, her ears drooping slightly, “I’m not going to have much time for this module.”
Fuji stood and leaned over, kissing her.  “I’m here to help with Jinzi and work,” the monitor said, “and you can access legal resources over on the other side of the station, right?”
“What did I do to deserve you?” she asked.
He chuckled.  “Well, your luck had to change sometime,” and he laughed as she stuck her tongue out at him.  “Maybe later.”

***

Exotic Market and Kiss Me Under the Balls Pawn Shop, the sign over the store read, accompanied by a curious insignia that consisted of three spheres.  Each orb bore the likenesses of a canine, a bear and a mink.
It was the first store that Meredith, Vesan and Varan had reached after leaving their hotel, heading up Procession Way toward the Mistress’ obviously phallic palace.  “No harm in looking, I suppose,” Vesan said, the rogue looking at a sign that advertised Treadmill Lager (‘With the World’s First Great Taste of Fish!’), “and we do need to explore the city as we go.”
“At this level,” Varan said, “there’s no telling what we might find to use.”
A small bell jingled merrily as they entered.  Among the aisles of racks bearing various goods, a canine with black and brown fur and wearing a shirt crouched before one set of items, gazing fixedly at a clipboard.  
In accordance with the city’s customs, he wasn’t wearing pants.
“Be with you in a minute,” he said absently.  “We’re doing inventory.”  He raised his voice.  “How about Wolf Lager?”
“Um, down to, um, three cases,” came a voice from the back.  “Full moon was last week, remember?”
“My ears are still ringing,” the canine said as he jotted a note on the clipboard.  “What about the hairberries?”
“They’ve gone off,” a third voice said.
The dog’s ears swiveled.  “How in hell could they have gone off?  We just got a shipment in last week!”
“No,” the third voice said, “’gone off,’ as in ‘boom.’  A quarter of the dry goods storeroom’s covered in fur now.”  A mink, wearing a shirt and vest, poked his head around a doorway.  “We’ll have to get a groomer in to shave the shelves.”  He caught sight of the three adventures, yelped, and covered his crotch with his own clipboard.  “Sorry, ladies,” the mink stammered.
The dog gave the mink a cross look.  “City custom, remember?  We don’t wear pants.”
“I hate this incarnation,” the mink grumbled.
“No idea why,” the canine remarked, jotting another note as the mustelid growled.
“Oh, I don’t know – oh!” the second voice said, stepping out of the cooler and revealing that he was a bear.  The three of them resembled the likenesses on the store sign.  “Good morning,” he said to Varan, craning his neck to look up at her.  “How much of you do you keep in your pockets?”
The mage raised a brow as she looked down at him.  “You three own this shop?”
“Sure do!” the bear said cheerfully.  “And everything you see is in an unsold state.”
“We have wares, if you have coin,” the mink added.
“We’ll just look around, if you don’t mind,” Meredith said.
“Sure, go ahead,” and the canine got to his feet.  The three proprietors started to go over the contents of their clipboards.
The goods on offer were fairly mundane, although several items with obvious transformative properties, like Wolf Lager, were kept slightly separate from the rest of the stock.  A few items were secured in a locked, glass-fronted cabinet.
“Insta-Drone™?” Vesan asked, looking at a squat glass jar three-quarters full of something that looked black and slimy, and moving of its own volition.  “What’s that?”
“Hm?  Oh, that’s for those couples who want a little something unique,” the mink replied.  “Eliminates the cost and duration of the fuckdroning process.  Only lasts a night, and it peels right off.  Money back guarantee.”
“And – is that dildo steel?” Meredith asked, the paladin gesturing at a polished phallus almost forty centimeters tall.
“Yeah,” the canine said.  “It’s the same brand the Mistress uses to give her vagina something to do other than jabber all day.  That thing’s a complete chatterbox.”
Varan stood there, ears swiveling as she listened.  “Aka, I recall now,” the mage declared.  “You three were in the Sacred Car Park, in Ottokar City.”
“That’s right,” the bear said.
“You were all feline then.”
“Sweet and pure truth,” the mink said, “but when the Amulet of Asininity was reassembled, we regained our usual forms.”
“So what are you three doing here?” Meredith asked.
The canine shrugged.  “Everybody’s got to be somewhere.”
“Well, goddamnit, I hope my estate is getting royalties from this,” the mink muttered.
The three started arguing, and the paladin, the mage, and the rogue left the shop before they started hitting each other with their clipboards.
There were several more shops, selling armor and clothes (nothing below the waist), provocative clothing in a variety of materials from silk to latex, as well as a few bars, several inns and two brothels.  One of the whorehouses was unique, according to its advertising beside the front door, for only employing tamed and specially-trained hentai beasts.
The rates were a good amount higher than the house offering only people to prospective clients.
“It’s getting close to sundown,” Vesan said, looking up.  “Do we really want to try infiltrating the palace at night?”
“No,” Meredith replied.  “There’s bound to be a trap of some sort.  Let’s go back to our hotel and take a look tomorrow.”
“We will have to participate in the guest’s orgy tonight,” Varan pointed out.  “The desk clerk looked suspicious when we refused last night.”
“Aka, we’ll have to be careful then,” Vesan said.